Wei nodded. ‘I can see that. Look, I’ve run this by Meili, my sister, and we wouldn’t expect you to do all of that yourself, but how would you feel about coordinating the renovations for us, being there to get quotes, let in tradesmen, et cetera? You could stay in the shack while you did, and we’d also pay you a fair wage for whatever you can do yourself.’

‘Wow. That’s a generous offer.’ A place to stay for no rent and I’d even get paid for the honour. The shack was worse than anything I’d ever attempted to ‘refresh’ before, but I’d never been afraid of hard work and it would help pass the time.

Wei chuckled. ‘It’s a selfish offer—you’ve done more in one week than we’d have done in a year. We should probably just sell the shack but Meili likes the idea of an Airbnb because she says we’ll have a place to stay whenever we want that also makes money for us. My sister is a little … how should I put it? Pretentious. She likes the idea of being able to say she has a holiday home by the beach.’

Hayley laughed. ‘I can’t wait to meet your sister.’

But I was too busy turning over the logistics in my head for small talk. ‘What if Adrian and I get back together and the work’s still not done?’

Wei shrugged. ‘You stay as long as you can and do as much as you can, but of course your family and your marriage come first.’

I nodded, but Adrian and I getting back together wasn’t my only concern. What happened when Hayley inevitably dumped Wei? He seemed rather besotted with her and if she left him broken-hearted, would that be the end of our arrangement? Then again, even if I only got another week in beautiful Ragged Point, it would be one less week of driving myself insane in Perth. And the thought of seeing Jedda again and a few more morning walks along that pristine beach was hard to resist.

‘It sounds perfect, but I’ve got canteen duty next week—’

‘So, cancel or swap with someone else. It’s only volunteer work,’ interrupted Hayley. ‘Or better yet, tell Adrian as it’s his week with the kids, it’s his turn to don the school apron and hand out sausage rolls and ice-creams.’

I smiled at that image. ‘There’s no sausage rolls or ice-creams anymore. Our school’s canteen is green—we have veggie sticks with hummus, fruit, plain air-popped popcorn, lentil burgers and stuff like that.’

Hayley and Wei exchanged a look of horror. ‘They’ve taken all the fun out of school,’ Wei said with a shake of his head.